Help for a newbie please

kimbles

Hi all.

My fianc! and I moved into a new build at the end of last year and I have decided I would like to try my hand at growing some fruit and veges.

I had a little dig in the garden in the week to see what kind of soil we had and what condition it is in, basically it is clay and has a lot of rubbish in it (big stones, pieces of brick building site stuff in general)
I had already decided that a raised bed would be best for my vegies but I would also like to put a blackcurrant bush and possibly an apple tree into the ground (maybe a few other things eventually). What should I do to improve the area where these plants will go, other than removing as many large pieces of rubbish as possible?

Also, for my raised bed, what sort of compost is best to go into it? I would like to grow the following, however space probably won't allow me to do all of them this year: lettuce, raddish, carrot, beetroot, onions, spring onions. And also tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicum to go into a mini greenhouse.

My Dad and my Great Uncle were big vege gardeners so that is the reason I would like to give its go, and also hope that some of their gardening magic has been passed down to me.

Any help/advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Kimbles.

yoyoegg

New builds are notorious for having a skim of topsoil over the subsoil from the foundations.

You probably need to bite the bullet and hire an 8 yard skip, dig out the rubbish and replace with a few tonnes of screened topsoil.

Hire of an 8 yard skip, £150, decent topsoil, £60/tonne, lorra, lorra digging over the Easter weekend!

wallbash

An expensive skip is OTT , lets walk before we start running!

Fork over land beneath site of raise bed . Remove any large rubble

( tell yourself , little rubble will aid drainage.)

Build raised bed......... I like decking boards , not that expensive and MUCH better looking than scraps of cast off wood/pallets that some suggest.

What to fill the bed with ?? cheapest stuff you can lay your hands on .

As for your 'wish' list ....... grow them all , even in a small raised bed ( three decking boards) plenty of room .

kimbles

Thanks very much for your replies, they are very useful.

Could I also ask please, what sort of compost to sow seeds into, do I need the special one for this purpose, or will any multi purpose stuff do?

sobie

kimbles wrote: »

Thanks very much for your replies, they are very useful.

Could I also ask please, what sort of compost to sow seeds into, do I need the special one for this purpose, or will any multi purpose stuff do?

Most seeds are fine in a sieved multipurpose compost. Use seed compost for more expensive or slower to germinate seeds.